SAFA/SAFL/SANFL member clubs - 1877 to 2007

[Leaping Lindner]

Very nice work Old Timer 2 as always. The Observors Team of the Year in particular is a nice find.
By the way A. Lodge, C. Dawson and Charles Nitschke were Medindie's league delegates

[oldtimer2]

Dear Leaping Lindner,
Thanks for that. Do you know if the Medindie delegates were the same for both of the Associations i(SAFA and UFASA) in the 1888 season?

Now to 1889

A successful 1889 season concluded in a brilliant manner. Never before had two teams been so evenly matched that it was necessary to play a deciding contest. Norwood and Port Adelaide were way ahead of the other teams and their matches were exceedingly fine struggles.

There was an alteration to the teams. North Adelaide and Medindie endeavoured to amalgamate but they could not agree on terms and then North Adelaide went to Adelaide with whom agreement was reached. Adelaide virtually absorbed the most successful junior club from 1888 as the combined team played as Adelaide and was considered likely to have a say in the premiership.

There was some opposition to Gawler staying in the association but the majority favoured to do so. Gawler did not have favourable terms as the metropolitan teams objected to travelling to the Modern Athens.

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[Leaping Lindner]

Dear Leaping Lindner,
Thanks for that. Do you know if the Medindie delegates were the same for both of the Associations i(SAFA and UFASA) in the 1888 season?

Pretty sure that would be the case. The 1888 AGM in March lists them as delegates and the team photo from later in the season also names them as delegates.

[oldtimer2]

The 1890 season was a great success as the growing popularity of football continued year after year as the game improved every season. The same teams as 1889 competed with no junior teams willing to join the senior ranks. Every team changed positions as a result of the season. South Adelaide was vastly improved and generally gave a good exhibition against Port Adelaide and Norwood but was not reliable. Adelaide did not do much better than Medindie. Medindie came out better but Gawler was never the team of 1889.

Adelaide was viewed preseason as a much improved team but never played up to expectations. Medindie came out better but Gawler was never the team it was in 1889. Gawler gave great dissatisfaction with a number of forfeits.

Medindie was encouraged to amalgamate with a leading junior club. Gawler had the same hopeful aspect but did not have such a good team as in 1889. It was required to play the same number of matches as the other teams with ten of them in Adelaide and just five in Gawler. This required a considerable expense for the team. There was a motion at an association meeting to have Gawler play all its matches in Adelaide but this was lost. This was undoubtedly an attempt to force Gawler to withdraw. One or two clubs had a grave objection to the country team owing to the expense incurred in travelling to the Modern Athens to play. Its location caused much trouble and the strength of the team did not attract crowds

The 1891 season was a highly satisfactory one after it gave promise of being more excellent than usual with three very strong clubs very close and Medindie had gained extra powers. Norwood continued its domination of the Association with its 10th premiership in 15 seasons. Adelaide and Medindie neither drew attendances nor had the ability to combat the top three teams. Unfortunately Adelaide lost nearly all its men and its performances were farcical with the loss of the backbone of its team to more financial clubs. It was left in a pitiable condition and suffered some humiliating defeats.

In 1892 South Adelaide secured the premiership so clearly and this significantly contributed to the season being one of the least attended seasons on record as interest died away and the clubs receipts suffered by small attendances. The ongoing and increased weakness of Adelaide and Medindie saw the game much less supported.

In 1893 South Adelaide made a grand fight to achieve consecutive premierships for the first time in its history and became the second club to do so with Norwood.
The top three teams played each other five times and Adelaide and North Adelaide four times. The weakness of the two clubs caused great dissatisfaction as it was having a detrimental effect on the standard of the game. The season featured the same five clubs as in 1892. Medindie had taken up the previously unlucky name of North Adelaide. The three clubs that had previously adopted the name had all used the name prior to removal from the scene of football activity. There was great hope that the plucky red and whites would be an exception. At the commencement of the season Adelaide was also hopeful as it had amalgamated with the Eastbourne Junior club the premiers of the Junior Association in 1892 and secured a rattling number of promising juniors.

In 1894 Norwood secured the premiership as it worked very hard during the season and maintained its previous held reputation. The season opened with less enthusiasm that previous seasons as attendances were down. Just four clubs was a severe detriment to the variety of the competition and did not reflect well on the colony. Adelaide had died a natural death after it had been criticised for remaining in the Association when it totally lacked the ability to do credit to the senior Association.

In 1895 South Adelaide had a comprehensively successful season and was without any doubt the strongest combination in the Association. It was far too strong for all the other teams and achieved the premiership with wonderfully fine play, largely due to brilliant kicking, long marking and very clean ground play. The introduction of the Natives Football Club had a healthy influence on the game although its last position at the end of the season indicated its relative strength.